Dec 10, 2011 5:27 PM

I have lived in Corfu, Greece, for 10 years and have never seen a fungus, if that is what it is, like the one in the accompanying photographs. It was found a couple of days ago on our land which is essentially an acre on a Greek mountainside.

I was surprised to receive notification of your response after all this time!

I have no knowledge of fungi and have tried to follow up on your identification. However, I am having difficulty finding any online reference to indicate where these two species differ. Can you help me out? All the photos that I have checked out suggest that the original identification was correct but you seem quite emphatic that this is a Colus hirudinosus not a Clathrus ruber. What leads you to that conclusion.

Since originally spotting this specimen, I have failed to find any more.

Yes, my replies came a bit later since I registered yesterday and I passed through all the forum replying what remained unidentified or misidientified, as well as asking myself for some of my many unidentified photos. I just finished now to see the first topic that started this forum.

Well, both species are clearly different: just write the names of each one in Google and after click in "Images", and compare both with your photo. You will see then clearly.

Having originally been given an identification, I had checked online. Given the various different forms referenced, it was easy to see how my image could be taken for Clathrus ruber. Now armed with your information, I have similarly checked and concede that there are more similarities in appearance to Colus hirudinosus.

Is there anything specific that assists in making a definitive identification?

The similarities in appareance ar not enough for assist in making a definitive identification? The appareance is the thing that I use always for identify anything - and it works very well. If what you want is a dichotomic key that separates both species with words, you must ask a mycologist.